Here’s me, doing my bit to participate weekly in Kelly’s Seven Quick Takes over at This Ain’t the Lyceum.

So here’s…

This Week’s Resources for Catholic Trauma Survivors

Takes. Best described as quick. Seven of them.

1. In “Three Things to Remember in a Season of Doubt” over at Catholic Mom, Laura Range gives us three simple tips to help us through those times of darkness. I especially like this one, because she promotes the value of phone calls & hearing an actual human voice tell us good news.
2. On that note, Shelly Henley Kelly also writes over at Catholic Mom about the restorative power of Friendships and how they help us know the unconditional love of God.
3. There’s something healing that happens inside of me when I read about child abuse survivors seeing justice this side of the veil. That’s why I’m linking “Abuse survivor in ‘Cinderella’ case urges others to speak out.“
4. Staying Strong, Sober and Sane Through the Holidays. If you see addiction wreaking havoc in your life, don’t wait for the New Year. Start today.
5. On the note of trading the chaos of addiction for serenity, here’s an oldie but goodie about how Mary makes a great model for how to live in the midst of destruction without letting it destroy our souls: Lessons in Marian Silence, Serenity and Surrender.
6. Need some harsh marriage truth, whether it’s for evaluating the marriage you came from or that comes from you? Debra Doak has it with “If He Has Chin Hair and Chest Hair, He Can Learn to Be a Better Partner.”
7. Lastly, Dr. Greg Popcak is over at OSV News with a thought-provoking article on how the McCarrick scandal is an opportunity to change toxic culture within our Church: A new opportunity to challenge the triumph of McCarrick Catholicism.

As this week’s send-off, I’ll share that I recently had to fire a therapist. I collected so many red flags in my four sessions with her that I could have made a lovely fascinator with which to adorn my head before the Blessed Sacrament. Instead, I told her it wasn’t working out and made an appointment with my previous therapist, who’s not highly trained in the area I need to explore, but he’s also actually helpful without blowing sunshine up my behind, so that’s where I’m going.

We family dysfunction survivors can have a darned hard time listening to our guts when people in (perceived or legit) authority are behaving in weird/scary/out-of-line ways. The more recovery we do, the more easily we will be able to notice and act healthily when others are acting towards us in unhealthy ways.

Like this:

Let me know how I may pray for you? Meanwhile, make sure you give Kelly & the SQT crew a look see.